3 Reasons To Use A Content Release Schedule & Boost Productivity

When you pair it with running your clinic, it’s easy to see why - blog posts, social media posts, following up on enquiries, rebooking clients - they’re not going to do themselves.

You’ve only got a finite amount of time in each week, and it can get overwhelming to keep up with the pace of it all.

Fortunately, there is a solution when it comes to maintaining your blog and social media. It’s called a ‘content release schedule’, although you could also think of it as writing your blog posts in ‘batches’.

Today, we’re looking at three excellent reasons why you should consider incorporating this technique into your schedule.

What Is A Content Release Schedule?

A content release schedule - or batch blogging - is when, instead of writing every article an hour before it has to go live, you set aside a larger portion of time and write ahead of schedule.

You write your article and social media posts, and then you either keep them somewhere it is easy to copy-paste from, or you feed them into scheduling software to be released over a set period of time.

While it requires a larger portion of time for initial setup, this method works in your favour over a longer period of time for a variety of reasons.

1 - It’s more time efficient

It takes time to wind up and wind down from an activity, let alone worrying about any disruptions or distractions sneaking in.

It makes more sense to devote a larger portion of time to one job before you have to switch tasks.

You don’t have to view writing your blog post or your social media copy as a distraction, since you’re blocking out time to write and actually getting more done in the same period of time.

2 - It gives you the ability to plan ahead

If you’re blocking out time to write, then you’re writing ahead of time. If you’re writing ahead of time, then you’ll be able to plan.

Planning your blog posts weeks in advance means you can invest more time and thought into them and raise the quality of your topics as a result.

Not having to scrape together a blog post topic each week results in something else positive too…

3 - It reduces deadline stress

In the time I’ve been writing blogs for my website, I was the least stressed when I was writing articles four weeks in advance.

Now, you’ve got more on your plate than just writing blog posts, so that period of time could be a stretch, but it gave me wiggle room.

When writing time came around, it was okay if it took me longer than usual to get a blog post done.

And if there had been some advancement or sudden change in industry, I could write something different and slot that in instead.

It removed the immediate pressure to write something perfect, and that really helped raise the overall quality of my blog posts.

So, How Do I Start Planning And Writing?

Set aside time. You’ll need a couple hours, which can feel like a lot for a not a huge yield immediately, but it’s an investment, so roll with it for now.

Work out how many blog posts you want to write over the next three months.

Work out how frequently you want your blog posts and your social media posts to happen - You could have one blog post a week and three social media posts a week, for example. Be realistic with your capabilities, because you’re still going to have to write the posts!

Think of a bunch of topics that your ideal clients would be interested in, and ask yourself the kinds of questions your clients would about those topics.

You should be able to break singular topics into a bunch of questions. Once you’ve got those questions, plan blog posts that answer them.

You don’t have to write the post word-for-word - you just need to have a basic outline planned. Once you’ve got your posts pre-planned, you’ll find it a lot easier to write them.

Try blocking out larger chunks of time to write a couple of topics at once, along with what you’d put in a number of relevant social media posts.

You can either load things up as you need to, or you can set and forget. Either way, the pressure to write something effective, right now, is mitigated. You can plan powerful blog posts, move them about as your needs deem; even set them up for when you go on holidays.